Pakistan Army Kills 25 Militants In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province

Pakistan’s security forces foiled two major infiltration attempts from Afghanistan, killing 25 terrorists, including four suicide bombers, in separate operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the military’s media wing said on Sunday. Five security personnel were also killed during the clashes.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the operations were carried out on Friday night in the North Waziristan and Kurram districts after troops detected the movements of two large groups of militants attempting to cross the border into Pakistan near Spinwam and Ghaki.

“The troops effectively engaged these groups of terrorists, killing fifteen khwarij, including four suicide bombers belonging to Fitna al Khwarij,” the statement said. The term Fitna al-Khawarij was officially adopted by the government last year to refer to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), drawing a parallel with a violent sect from early Islamic history.

Another 10 infiltrators were killed the same day in Ghaki, Kurram District, the statement added, noting that a large cache of weapons, ammunition, and explosives was recovered from the slain militants.

“It is significant to point out that these infiltration attempts by Fitna al Khwarij are being carried out at a time when delegations of Pakistan and Afghanistan are engaged in talks in Türkiye,” the ISPR noted.

A sanitisation operation is currently underway to eliminate any remaining militants in the area, the military said.

Pakistan has witnessed a sharp rise in terrorist attacks in recent months, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, targeting security personnel and law enforcement agencies. The surge follows the collapse of a ceasefire agreement with the TTP in 2022.

Just last week, security forces neutralised 34 terrorists during multiple operations across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, underscoring the continued intensity of the counterterrorism campaign.

With PTI inputs